5 Client Fear-Driven Tricks That Hurt Builders

Clients start the project process at a disadvantage because they’re on a steep learning curve. Through fear, some of them employ ‘newbie’ tricks. Here’s how to help them.

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Here are 5 client fears builders told us about and how to fix them. With a little tweaking you can help clients move forward with confidence – without the tricks.

Fearful Client Trick 1. Hit Builders Up for Free Information

Because clients know so little about the whole process, they rightly regard builders as experts.

They’re also really scared.

So, they get massive benefit when they discuss their project with you because you share your knowledge and address many of their concerns.

In early meetings, your job is to help clients appreciate your experience and recognise you as an expert – a trusted expert.

That’s because trusted experts are often engaged with healthy margins, healthy respect and a healthy working relationship – not a price checker.

To learn how, see Are You a Trusted Expert or Just Another Builder

Take a free ProCalc trial

Fearful Client Trick 2. Holding Onto the Last Payment

Chasing the client around their kitchen table for your final payment is never fun.

Clients are often fearful they’ve missed a defect. Or they won’t be supported in the warranty period.

Their solution is to hesitate to pay their last invoice.

For the builder, that means building trust with clients by publishing the process that explains what clients should expect at each stage of the project.

Download this builders’ info-graphic template you can use to help clients understand your process.

Also, if your standard handover (final) payment is currently 10% of the project value, change it.

Instead, break it into two final steps:

Second Last Step: Defects Close Out (8%)

Final Step: Handover (2%)

That way, you’re ‘de-risking’ the final step for both parties (and protecting your profits)

Fearful Client Trick 3. Expecting Free Quotes

From our builders’ research interviews, we know that roughly 1 in 3 builders charge for detailed estimates.

That means many clients have been ‘trained’ to expect free quotes.

While free quotes might work for clients, it places the builder in a difficult situation where they must quote several jobs (taking a few weeks each) in order win one.

That is, they spend too much of their time working for free for it to be sustainable.

The easiest way is to qualify the client first with a ProCalc report (take a free trial).

But you should also aim to charge for your engagement because it will help foster stronger relationships with clients.

If you’re not sure how to do this, see How to Charge for ProCalc reports and Why (& How) To Charge for Pre-Build Engagement

Fearful Client Trick 4. Expecting Freebies During the Project

If you’ve given them free services before you win the job, they’ll expect the same during the project.

Be clear and immediate about the impacts of variations so the client knows they have an impact on their bottom line.

Make use of the info-graphic template so they know what to expect.

Fearful Client Trick 5. Hiding Their Budget

Almost every builder we interviewed said clients often feel uncomfortable about disclosing their budget.

Some of them have heard the budget blow-out horror stories. Some of them are still building trust with you. The rest are just terrified they’ll get ripped off…. or haven’t even seriously thought about it.

No matter their reason, there’s little value in asking their budget because it can be misinformed or misleading.

Remember: You’re The Expert, Not Them

So, the fastest way to ground a client’s budget expectations is to provide them with a ProCalc report (free trial here).

ProCalc’s numbers are based on over 10,000 Aussie builders’ estimates from all over the country so you can hand them the report explaining that it provides an opinion of probable cost using industry pricing.

Then if the client needs to dial back their scope, you can sit down with them to manage out any costly items, then re-run the ProCalc report. See Stop Throwing Away Half Your Best Leads

Book a free ProCalc Trial

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Richard Armstrong is a former registered builder who recently interviewed hundreds of experienced Australian builders to identify how they best manage clients, budgets and profitability.

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